


In tandem

by murkyrain



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angry Hux, Angry Kylo Ren, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Snoke Being a Dick, Things move quickly again, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:13:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29443155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murkyrain/pseuds/murkyrain
Summary: Ren is taken advantage of "for his failures" on Starkiller Base, Snoke watches.Hux is meant to be purely an observer, too.*Trigger warning: rape, noncon, though the act itself isn't explicit, it's there.*Inspired mainly because I kept seeing people write about this happening to Hux (with various characters) and not Ren – although I'm sure there's something like this somewhere, this is my (short) take.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren, Kylux, kylo ren/armitage hux
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	In tandem

Hux is not alarmed, at first.

He doesn't think Snoke would really stoop to that, even if he thought it would be in Ren's best interest, and especially with an audience – it's too indignifying to even the instigator, both parties, so he tries stifle his surprise that their 'Supreme Leader' went this far as he produces some faceless apparition with the Force and uses it to threaten his apprentice.

What could he do if he even wanted to, in any event.

He does wonder why his presence is necessary for the punishment, however – perhaps simply to make the shame and humiliation worse, or to test them both.

He suspects it is most likely both of these reasons. The general knows he was not forgiven for what happened at the base, although it was not directly – or perhaps even indirectly – his fault, his doing that had caused the catastrophe, the Rebellion's triumph.

It is not until Ren cries out, startling him that he realizes he hasn't been paying close enough attention, that Snoke's conjured thing has begun to wreck him from the inside.

His shock is almost palpable, a vibrant hiss in the air that he nearly retreats from, that for an instant he wonders if the Force users in the room can sense it before he remembers how preoccupied they are, at present.

He wonders why it, the telling noise had only occurred then, then infers that he was attempting to hold it in and largely succeeding until that moment, so that only the extreme release was noticed, was noticeable.

For some reason – _it is not his failure,_ he keeps reminding himself, no matter what, who they'd like to pin the blame on – it makes him want to hide as well, hide himself and Ren and all their terrible, telling emotions.

He told himself prior to this meeting, many times that he'd like to see the Knight fall, that he would push him over the edge himself if it meant being rid of his disastrous nature, and be glad of it despite the additional consequences.

Now, he finds there are some edges he would not push him over, even at his own detriment.

Hux has the willpower, perhaps also the bloodlust for many things, but stirring up any for this, any sort of enjoyment whatsoever, mere satisfaction is beyond him. This is not how he would have punished the man, had he needed to be punished for his personal doings, his reckless floundering at the base: this, this is too much.

Then he has a reckless thought – perhaps _Snoke_ is the zealous one.

Ren startles, though Hux thinks he can't possibly have heard that, his dark eyes go right to his in what looks like wonder, which is naturally ruined when Snoke chuckles.

"Good, let your desires consume you, distract you from the pain."

Hux is angry so suddenly he's not quite sure why until Snoke is there, appearing so fully beside the apparition that he reacts to the threat, lashing out with the blaster instead of the dagger beneath his coat because he is not, currently, the target.

Snoke stops this, of course, though he seems surprised by it, he is more surprised – as Hux is – when Ren stands, lunges at his 'Master' in turn.

He dodges this, too, but Ren continues, battering him with blows at the punishing pace he perhaps wanted him to suffer or even retaliate with, outright laughing so coldly now it makes Hux's anger burn brighter, hotter, and harder in the smoking pit of his chest.

No one wastes further time on words; Snoke being evidently pleased and the Knight's anger fueled by Hux's, Hux can feel it blossoming when their eyes meet by chance and intent, the danger a supernova of intrigue that was only a dying, dim star before.

This danger Snoke precedes, however, the danger that he manifests refuses to be vanquished, as he lies in wait for each blow to belay it, to narrowly and more narrowly evade the focused beam of fury that is now Ren, no longer his – Hux can't fight the sense, even if he doesn't entirely know what it means for either of them – but still a Knight of his own fighting with a compounded will, a wounded spirit made all the stronger for it, this growing belief that without this corrupt 'Leader', this coercive 'Master', this cruel, unhindered being they alone, in tandem will remain.

The alien lifeform doesn't splatter them with much blood when he finally falls, and Hux thinks perhaps he had aged, or leeched it all out of him like an acidic, treated wine. 

They continue to have eyes for each other in the sense that they survived this thing together and understand it, and now don't understand what, exactly, they are going to do.

They stand in place panting, chests contorting with exertion, the spent energy of various kinds wafting precariously in the atmosphere around them.

They know what they want, but not necessarily what the other wants, despite the tendency of one to sneak into others' minds.

Ren still sees the apparition, though it long ago faded when Snoke became, as he may have put it, 'distracted' – he still feels like he is, but in a better way, he hopes.

Neither of them want to speak first, both apprehensive, but Ren is more impatient for something else to happen and so comments abruptly, failing to make it casual, "I'm glad it was you."

Hux can't help but look directly at him, the unmasked man who up until today had expressed primarily resentment, hatred of him – but when the general had felt this toward Snoke, on his or both of their behalves, something changed.

He doesn't feel like he should comment on what Snoke did – what could he say, anyway, that would have made that any better – so he returns, "I thought you wouldn't be."

 _Until I felt you inside my head,_ he adds, there. Ren snorts, laughs a little.

_It was a surprise, yes. I didn't expect to feel that from you, for me._

Hux snorts, then. _I didn't either._

Perhaps he had been more surprised than Ren, ultimately.

 _I wanted it, however,_ he admits, though without the existence of the Force he's not sure he would have.

Ren smiles, and it's stupid but Hux likes it, likes how it slants and isn't perfect but fits the length of his face, the first genuine one he's seen the Knight have.

 _I wanted it too,_ he doesn't have to say but offers, perhaps can't help thinking regardless.

Knowing this, these truths is really all they need as they close the darkening distance between them at a speed they scarcely notice, to seal their spiraling fates with a blistering embrace, another binding, biting promise to remain in tandem with each other, to supersede the galaxy, to stay at large in star systems small and great, both inside and outside themselves.


End file.
